Sliding door and tracks therefor



.Fufiy 17, 1923- 3,4623% E. J. G. PHILLIPS TSLIDING DOORS'AND TRACKSTHEREFOR Filed Sept. 25 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented July 17, 1923.

FLFEQE.

PATENT ELLIS J. G. PHILLIPS, OF AURORA, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0RICHARDS-WILCOX IVIANU' FACTURING COMPANY, OF AURORA, ILLINOIS, ACORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

SLIDING DOOR AND TRACKS THEREFOR.

Application filed September 25, 1922.

T 0 all whom it may cancer/1.:

- Be it known that I, ELLIS J. G. PHILLIPS, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Aurora, in the county of Kane and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SlidingDoors and Tracks Therefor, of which the follow ing is a specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings. I

Inmany buildings, such for example as gymnasiums, schools, and otherplaces where a comparatively large number of persons assemble it isdesirable to divide the floor space of such a buildingby movablepartitions so that such space may be utilized as one large room or aplurality of smaller rooms. Such movable partitions are best made in theform of doors that abut at their edges as thereby not only is each roommade more nearly proof against sounds emanating from an adjoining roombut the doors do not detract from the appearance of the rooms as otherforms of partitions are apt to do. It is the leading object of myinvention to provide novel means for suspending a plurality of suchdoors from overhead tracks in such manner that they can be readily movedfrom their alined edge-toedge clOSlng position to a position alongsideof each other and substantially parallel with a side wall of the room,or in other words, at right angles to their position when serving as apartition. I accomplish this object by the construction and arrangementof parts shown in the drawings and hereinafter particularly described.That which I believe to be new will be set forth in the claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the upper portion of a series of slidingdoors suspended by my improved means, the doors being shown in closedposition;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through that portion of the tracks thatare shown at the right-hand side of Fig. 1,the housing that is shown inFig. 1 as enclosing the tracks being omitted-the view also showing indotted lines the right-hand door turned at right angles intofully-opened position and the next-succeeding door partly turned tobring it into position to lie alongside of said right-hand door;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the upper Serial No. 590,466.

portion of one of the doors shown in Fig.

two wheeled carriers that support the door from the overhead tracks;

Fig. 4 is a detail illustrating the means for locking each door to thefloor when in its closed position;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig.2, certain portions being broken away;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on the line 66 of.Fig.2; and

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing a modification in theconstruction of'the tracks whereby the doors may be moved to either sideof the doorway or part of them to one side and the remainder to theother side.

In the several figures of the drawings,

A and B indicate respectively the opposite side walls of a room which itis desired to divide into separate spaces or rooms by a movablepartition extending across the room between said walls. Such partitionis here shown as made up of a plurality of inde-, pendentlymovablesliding doors. such doors in the construction illustrated being "eightin number and, for convenience, being respectively indicated by thenumerals 10 to 17 inclusive. Each of these doors has secured to it, asbest shown in Fig. 3 two aprons 18, the two aprons of each door beingsecured to opposite faces of the door and adjacent to the side edgesthereof. Each apron is bent to provide an approximately horizontalportion that extends over the upper edge of the door and is ofsufiicient length to ext-end at some distance beyond the opposite faceof the door. Through such projecting portion of each apron isan openingthrough which passes the screwthreaded lower end of a pendant or hangerbar 19 that at its upper end is journaled upon the axle of a pair ofwheels )0 such' parts 19 and 20 constituting an ordinary wheeled carrieror trolley adapted to run upon overhead tracks. To allow the doors thatthe door can be adjusted vertically as i the horizontal part of theapron.

desired by turning of this nut 21, and when set as desired independentvertical movement of the door can be prevented by proper adjustment ofanothernut 23 located algpve y other desired anti-friction bearing meansmay of course be employed.

Turning now to the tracks upon which the wheels of the carriers run, 24and 25 indicate two such tracks that, for the greater portion of theirlength, lie adjacent to and parallel with'each otherthese parallelportions being spaced apart sufficiently to permit them to respectivelyreceive the two sets of wheels 20 that are carried by each of thedoors-except those on the end door 10. In other words, with theexception of said door 10 the wheels 20 of one carrier on each ofthedoors will travel in the track 24, while the Wheels of the other carrieron the same door will travel in the track 25. A short distance from oneof the side walls of the room-the wall-A in Figs. 1 and 2-the track 25is given a reverse or ogee curve, as indicated at 26, and from suchcurved portion continues as a straight section 27, which latter sectionis parallel with the track 24 and at a suliicient distance therefrom topermit the trolleys on the doors 11 to 17 inclusive to respectivelytravel along on the track 2 1 and the track section 27 and with the doorat right angles to its closing position. EX- tending' between the track2 1 and the section 27 of the other track is a third track indicated by28which lies closely adjacent to the side wall A and parallel therewith,or in other words at right angles to the two parallel tracks2 l, 25. Onthis track 28 run the trolley wheels 20 at the adjacent edge of the enddoor 10, while the other trolley -,Wheels on the same door run on themain track 241-, the swiveling connection of the door with the pendantpermitting of course this standing of one set of the trolley wheels 20in the track 28 that is at right angles to the main track that the othertrolley Wheels run upon. The cross track 28 is not shown as connectedwith either of the other tracks that it abuts against-that is, it" doesnot open into either of the other tracks because, of course, the trolleywheels 20 at the adj acent edge portion of the door 10 are the onlytrolley means that run in that cross track,

and it is not intended that such trolley means therein should at anytime run in either of the main tracks.

All of the tracks may be of any desired construction, and as here showneach is formed of sheet metal sections each bent to form top and sidewalls, and'having their lower marginal portions turned inwardly andupwardly to form rails for the wheels 20 to run upon-the constructionbeing a well known form. The tracks will be supported as usual bybrackets placed at intervals, such brackets conforming as usual in shapeto the shape of the tracks that they support. The brackets shown areindicated by 29 and, as here shown, each is secured to an overhead beamor to the ceiling by bent metal pieces 30 that are bolted in place tosuch beam or ceiling. As here shown the various tracks are surrounded bya boxing 31, which boxing, however, may of course be omitted if desired.When employed it will have slots in its bottom wall of course for thepassage therethrough of the hanger rods or pendants 19.. By reference toFig. 1 it will be seen that the bent aprons 18 at the abutting edges ofthe doors 10 and 11 are on the same sides of those two doors, and thatthe aprons adjacent to the abutting edges of the doors 11 and 12 are onthe opposite sides of those two doors, whereas such aprons from there ontoward the left hand side of Fig. 1 alternate with respect to the sidesor faces of the doors. Theexception from the general rule with respectto thearrangement of the aprons on the door 11is due to the fact thatthe doors are narrower than the distance from the wall to the pointwhere the curved portion 26 of the track 25 joins the long straightsection of track, and

hence it would not be feasible to have re versed the. position of the.aprons on the door 11 from that shown. However, ifthe showing ofthewidth of the doors in Fig. 1 had beenmaterially wider the aprons onthe door 11 could have been arranged exactly with respect to all theother doors at the. left thereof. The material thing with respect to theuse of these tracks, so far as concerns all angles to the position thatsuch doorsoccupy when in closing position.

With the doorsclosed as in Fig. 1, and with their edges in contact asthere shown, it is evident that an effective division wall or partitionis provided across a: room, and with the lower portions of the doorsprovided with locking bolts, as indicated at 32,

(see Fig. 4:) such doors will be rigidly in alinement, as is desirable.Now, to move these doors out of closing position and alongside ofthewall A that is adjacent to the end door 10, the bolts 32 will bepulled out of their keepers or sockets in the floor, after which the enddoor 10 will be turned so that its trolley that runs on the crosstrack28 will move along such track, while its other trolley on the track 24will move toward the end of such track. The result will be to turn thatdoor 10 so that it stands at right angles to its former closed positionand alongside of the wall A. The succeeding doors will each be movedtoward the wall A, and as the trolley member that runs on'the track 25comes to the curved section 26 such trolley will follow along thatcurved section and along the straight end portion 27, whereas the othertrolley on the door will move along the long straight section 24. Theseveral doors will thus be brought one after the other to positions atright angles to their closing position and stand side by side at oneside of the doorway, as will be readily appreciated from an inspectionof Fig. 2.

In Fig. 7 1' have shown a modification wherein the same number of doorsis employed as in Fig. 1, but differing from Fig. 1 only in that thetrack 25 is shown as formed at both its ends with the curved andstraight sections 26 and 27, and having the cross track member 28provided at each end instead of at one end. As will be understood, soconstructing the track as shown in this Fig. 7 will permit the doors tobe all moved to either one side or the other of the room, or half or anynumber of the doors may be moved to one side, as already described, andthe remaining doorsv moved in like manner to the other side.

By reason of the extension of the horizontal portions of the aprons 18that each door carries to equal distances beyond the two faces of thedoors such doors are located, when in operative position, in the planeof the space between the closely adjacent portions of the two main trackmembers and hence are equally supported from such tracks and thereforeare capable of being moved easily therealong.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination, two overhead tracks that are parallel and adjacentfor a portion of their length, one of said tracks near one of its endscurving away from the other track and terminating in a straight endportion that is parallel with said other track, a plurality of doors,and two carriers for each door that respectively travel upon saidtracks, eachof said doors having means extending beyond one of its facesfor effecting a swiveling connection with a carrier on one of the tracksand means extending beyond the other of its faces for effecting asimilar connection with a carrier on the other track.

2. In combination, two overhead tracks that are parallel and adjacenttor a portion of their length, one of said tracks near one of its endscurving away from the other track and terminating in a straight endportion that is parallel with said other track, a plurality of doorsadapted, when in closed position, to stand approximately in the plane ofthe space between the said adjacent parallel portions of the tracks,carriers movable along said two tracks, and means projecting beyondopposite faces of each door for swivelingly connecting'each door with acarrier on each track.

3. In combination, two overhead tracks that are parallel and adjacenttor a portion of their length, one of said tracks near one of its endscurving away from the other track and terminating in a straight endportion that is parallel with said other track, a plurality of doorsadapted, when in closed position, to stand approximately in the plane ofthe space between the said adjacent parallel portions of the tracks, twoaprons secured to opposite faces, respectively. of each door, each apronextending over the top of the door and projecting beyond the facethereof, and carriers movable along said two tracks, one apron on eachdoor having swiveling connection with a carrier on one of the tracks andthe other apron having a like connection with a carrier on the othertrack.

4:. In combination, a system of overhead tracks comprising a straighttrack, a second track parallel with and adjacent to said firstnamedtrack for a portion of its length and near one of its ends curving awayfrom said first-named track and terminating in a straight end portionthat is parallel with the first-named track, a third track extendingacross the space between the first-named track and said straight endportion of the second-named track, a series ofdoors, two

carriers for each door for movably suspending the doors from saidtracks, one of the carriers for an end. door of the series traveling onsaid third-named track with its other carrier on said first-named track,and the two carriers for each. other door of the series traveling on thefirst-named and secondnamed tracks, respectively.

5. In combination, a plurality of independently-movable doors ofsubstantially similar width adapted to close a doorway when arrangededge-to-edge or to stand faceto-tace adjacent to one side of the doorwaywhen thedoorway is open, an overhead track system. comprising two tracksthat are parallel and in close proximity throughout their principallength but near one end are separated by the curving of one track tocarry its end portion away from the other track to a distanceapproximately equal to the Width of one of the said doors and a thirdtrack extending at an angle to said other tracks and located. betweenthe more widely separated portions of said other tracks, a carrierconnected with each of said doors near each edge thereof; one carrier ofeach door except an end door of the serles traveling on one of saidfirst-mentioned tracks and the other 10 of said carriers traveling onthe said parallel and curved'traclgthe' carriers for said enddooi-rtraveling respectively on one of said first-namedtracks and thesaid. third or crosstrack, the connections between th'e several doorsand their carriers being swiveling connection to permit the requiredturning' of the doors into and out of closing position,

ELLIS "J. o. PHILLIPS.

